New report on additive manufacturing in civil aviation

A new report, titled “Opportunities for Additive Manufacturing in Aerospace 2017 – Civil Aviation:  An Opportunity Analysis and Ten-Year Forecast”, projects that AM materials sold into civil aviation will surpass $650 million in revenues in 2022 and that AM hardware sales will surpass $850 million in that same timeframe.

Members of the press can receive an executive summary as well as schedule an interview with the report’s author, Davide Sher, Senior Industry Analyst at SmarTech.

The commercial and general aviation market is set to continue on its booming growth path over the next twenty years, driven by factors such as economic growth, rapidly expanding middle classes in emerging economies, liberalization of trade, and increasing tourism. All these elements will drive significant growth in aircraft demand.

Manufacturing of civil aircraft – that is planes for commercial and general aviation – has already emerged as the first industry sector where 3D printing is an established manufacturing modality. SmarTech continues to see important new opportunities emerge in this area in both metal AM and polymer AM (metal replacement and composite).  This report identifies and quantifies the business potential for these new trends. It includes:

• Market sizing and growth assessment: Detailed ten-year forecasts of the revenue generation potential for additive manufacturing in the civil aviation sector.  These forecasts are presented in both volume and value ($ Millions) terms and cover printer shipments and install base, revenues from specialist aerospace service bureaus, aerospace-related AM software, and materials (metals, polymers and composites).

• Competitive intelligence: A strategic assessment of the leading firms supplying the “additive aerospace” sector.  In this assessment, we also assess the commercial impact of the rapidly growing number of companies that are targeting aerospace firms as potential customers.

• Assessment of new materials: An analysis of how this segment of the aerospace industry is changing its strategies and adoption patterns for metal and composites AM and is exploiting the increases in speed, part size and process automation that have occurred in the last few years.

• The growing role of software: A discussion of how the absence of an appropriate software infrastructure for “additive aerospace” has been impacting the market and how significant investments made in this area are now going to lead to a much more rapid adoption of the technology. Here there appears to be an opportunity to market new software packages to fully support all phases the AM process, from CAD to PLM to enterprise infrastructure.”

From the Report:

• The market for AM technologies and materials in civil aviation is set to grow steadily driven by record demand for new aircraft over the forecast period. More parts will be produced by AM in a market segment that is expected to continue experiencing record growth through 2027.

• Advancements in CAD, CAE, CAM and PLM software are driving the need for AM in general and commercial aviation manufacturing. More optimized, complex shapes and the need for a more automated production process make AM ideal for a growing number of production requirements.

• Several new players in the hardware market are driving down cost of materials and are expected to drive up consumption. The polymer powder bed segment is expected to benefit from new systems that support open materials. The same is true for most powder bed metal AM system OEMs. Even the industrial FDM materials market, currently entirely held by Stratasys, is now opening up to third-party material suppliers.